Interview with Amazon Bestselling Author Kimberly Rae

Sick & Tired,  if you are chronically ill, or know someone who is, you know what we are talking about when we say we are "sick and tired of being sick and tired!" Her launch is June 26--mark that date on your calendar. June 26 is her birthday so she is giving away goodies as well as launching her book.
Check  out her freebies at www.kimberlyrae.com after you read the interview!
 

 

 

Author Kimberly Rae has Addison’s disease, hypoglycemia, asthma and a cyst on her brain. She knows what it is like to live tired of dependence on medication, guilty over needing help, and frustrated over fielding the frequent comment, “But you don’t look sick!”

 

Her new book, Sick & Tired: Empathy, Encouragement, and Practical Help for those Suffering with Chronic Health Problems, along with its companion, Laughter for the Sick & Tired, are for the nearly 1 out of every 2 people in America who live with chronic illness.


Let’s find out more:   Welcome, Kimberly. Tell us why you wrote Sick & Tired. After having health problems for over 15 years, I wanted a book that was funny, empathetic, encouraging, and a reminder that God loved me and had a purpose for me despite my limitations and pain. I couldn’t find that book, so I wrote it! I want others to read my book as a safe place where they feel believed, understood, and where they find a few reasons to smile! 

 Why do you believe this book is needed? People with chronic illness struggle with feeling alone in a healthy world, trying to pretend they can keep up, worried others think they are lazy or making their condition up. They are frustrated over doctors who chalk up their symptoms to depression, as well as the very real emotions of discouragement that naturally accompany lingering pain or an illness they always have to fight but can never defeat.  People who suffer chronically need encouragement, help, and reasons to laugh! That’s what this book is for.  

What are some of the book topics?

• How to explain your condition with confidence.
• The real and important process of grieving your loss.
• What to do when you’re ready to snap.
• Freedom from the weight of what other people think.
• When the smallest activities become a major hassle.
• The loss of your old identity and the presence of this new person you may not like yet.

Moving forward.  

Who is Sick & Tired for?

1. Women who struggle feeling “less” due to chronic health problems and need to know they are not alone and there is help.
2. Anyone with chronic health problems (over 100 million people in our country).
3. Anyone who loves someone with chronic health problems (pretty much everybody else!)

For those who love someone with health problems, would this make a good gift for them?  I definitely think so! Here’s why: No one understands a health sufferer like a fellow sufferer, and a short gift book from a person with a health condition to people with health conditions is the perfect gift because:

• though many would like to go to a conference or seminar on chronic health conditions, most of us would end up being sick on that particular day.
• though sometimes it helps to talk about our feelings and struggles, at the time we are feeling them, often we just want to be alone rather than talking, so it’s good to have a book on hand
• it feels so good to know someone out there understands, and a book can remind us of that fact over and over again.
• it gives helpful advice that is always accessible. Lastly, sick people don’t get out much; they need to get their encouragement in ways that do not require personal interaction, like from books.”

When is your book due for release? It’s up for launch June 26, 2013, on my birthday!! I’m doing some giveaways for the event, so sign up for the newsletter at www.kimberlyrae.com if you want the exclusive offer! Check out Kimberly’s new release, Sick & Tired: Empathy, Encouragement, and Practical Help for those Suffering with Chronic Health Problems

Thank you Kimberly for sharing with us. If you would like to comment on Kimberly's posts feel free to do so below. I hope you have been encouraged by her courage and willingness to share. Kimberly also writes about human trafficing. She gets rather passionate about it, even! You can find out more about that on her website:  www.kimberlyrae.com

And for the highly sensitive these emotional and psychological issues cut deeply and profoundly mess with your mind, self-image and sense of worth. And yet God made you highly sensitive knowing that you would also become chronically ill. Let this be the place you air your thoughts and feelings about God, yourself and others. I'd love to hear from you. See you next week.

Blessings, Carol
Amazon Best Selling Author of The Mystery of Spiritual Sensitivity and Highly Sensitive
www.fromgodsheart.com
www.joystarters.com


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Excerpt from Sick &; Tired–Guest Post

Glad you are back!

 

I have characterized living with MS as like wrestling with an octopus. Just when you manage to subdue one tentacle, seven more appear!

 

If you live with a chronic illness you will resonate with what Kimberly has to say in this little excerpt from her book which launches June 26. It is available now through Amazon, but on June 26 you will be able to get the kindle edition free! I will publish the link for the freebie as soon as it is available.

 

 Now, more from Kimberly!

 

Sick & Tired: Empathy, Encouragement, and Practical Help for those Suffering with Chronic Health Problems

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

Sometimes I want to slap a sticky note on my forehead that says, “I am sick. No, I don’t look sick at this moment. But I am not faking having a disease just because I’m not in a wheelchair, and I am not a freak.”

Now, I am aware walking around with a note like that on my head would actually put me in the freak category. Not to mention all those words would only fit on a Post-It note if I wrote it very, very small, and then people would have to get really close to me to read it, and that might just put me over the edge. I’m really into my personal space.

The thing is, I don’t like talking about having chronic health problems that interfere with my life. I don’t like the way people look down, over, and around me when they realize I have a chronic illness. Or worse yet, the suspicious way their eyes narrow when they decide it’s all in my head, or I’m a hypochondriac.

Why does it bother me to tell people I have health problems? Doesn’t everybody at some point? I suppose that’s the crux right there. For most people, the difference is in the “some point” part.

They have a problem. They go to the doctor. Doctor fixes it. Life moves on. It was a small, annoying inconvenience.

For me, and likely for you since you’re reading this, your problem is not so temporary. You’ve got it for life, or until science finds a cure, which for some diseases is as likely as winning the lottery when you haven’t even bought a ticket. So we make people nervous.

Instead, Americans spend billions trying to avoid anything that even smells like sickness. Our country has enough pills, vitamins, and herbal remedies to make you sick even if you started out healthy, or at least to make your urine turn neon yellow—which is an interesting phenomenon—though likely not worth all the money it took to make it happen.

I would like to trade in my health problems and be well again. I sometimes think that would be getting my life back. But the truth is, this is my life, and as I have come to (almost) accept that fact and make the best of it, I think there’s hope for me.

Maybe not to cease being a freak to some, but to cease seeing myself as a victim, as a traumatic case, or even as a lesser being because of my illness. That being the goal, maybe I’ll remove the hypothetical Post-It note from my forehead and put it in my back pocket, to be removed periodically and waved in people’s faces only when I’m having a tough day. It’s a start anyway.

 

Check out Sick & Tired today at Amazon.com! Also look for its companion book, Laughter for the Sick & Tired, on Amazon or on www.Kimberly Rae.com  

 

Blessings, Carol

Amazon Best Selling Author of The Mystery of Spiritual Sensitivity and Highly Sensitive

www.fromgodsheart.com

www.joystarters.com

 

P.S. Would you please fill in your email address in the "follow" box up at the top of the blog? Thank you! Hope to see you here again next week.

What Sick People Wish Healthy People Knew

 

I've been blogging about difficulties of living with MS but these are not problems unique to MS. Anyone with a chronic illness must cope with the same sorts of issues.

 

 

Today I want to introduce you to a friend, and fellow afflicted author, Kimberly Rae. She has been diagnosed with Addison’s disease. At this point doctors think it is relatively rare, but they used to think that of a lot of things. She is also diagnosed with several other ailments you will find listed at the end of this post. She is well acquainted with the full gamut of emotional/spiritual battles that chronic illness brings.

 

One of the things that is hard to deal with when you are chronically ill is well meaning advice on one hand and ignorance of chronic illness  on the other. I particularly liked Kimberly’s list!

 

Things Sick People Wish Healthy People Knew

With nearly one out of every two people having some kind of chronic condition, it is very likely that you either have a chronic illness or you love someone who does. Today's post has tips from people with chronic illness, things they wish healthy people would understand, compiled by Amazon bestselling author and Addison’s disease sufferer, Kimberly Rae.

Here's what real people with chronic illness have to say about what they wish healthy people knew...
Disclaimer: Each of these will not necessarily fit every chronically ill person, they are just to give an idea of what many may feel.

1. I don't want to be sick. If I could make it go away, I would.

 

2. I feel guilty for my limitations and need reassurance that I am still valuable.

3. I wish they would know how hard it is for me to plan ahead to do things. Also, just because I'm able to do things one day doesn't mean I can do them the next. The inconsistency and uncertainty...is the worst part, because I never know how I will feel from day to day.  

 

4. I wish the well friends realized that I cannot keep up the same level of activity when I am under the weather. My house is a mess; the spiders won't pay rent and the kitchen floor is adhesive. I've been MIA over the last 2 months or so--the only people who have contacted me (to see how I'm doing) are ones who have health issues of their own.

 

5. I wish they knew that we are not lazy. We want to participate in all the things they do, but sometimes our bodies just won't let us. Also, just because we don't look sick doesn't mean we aren't struggling with pain or fatigue.

 

6. If it weren't for facebook, I would have no friends at all. No one offers to help. No one comes around just to talk. I have lived in this place 3 years, not one person has visited me here. I can't clean by myself, I have trouble cooking every day (and hubby is so good about not insisting), grocery shopping takes all of my strength since I have to also carry it inside and put it away. I sometimes pray for an OCD friend who will be so aghast at the condition of my house that she will volunteer to help me. :)

 

7. If I say no to an activity or event, it is not personal. It's not that I don't want to go (I do!), and not that I'm avoiding those people; it's just that even fun things can be more than my body can handle sometimes.

 

8. I wish healthy people could accept that my condition is not going to go away. If you ask, “Are you feeling better?” I don’t know how to answer. Better as is not sick anymore? As in better than the last flare up? Better than this morning? Instead, I’d love to have you smile and say, “How are you feeling today?” Thanks.

 

If you have a chronic illness, what would you add to this list? A little understanding goes a long way, so don't be shy! (But with gentleness and respect, please.)

 

Kimberly Rae has Addison's disease, hypoglycemia, asthma, scoliosis, and a cyst on her brain. She loves helping others live joyfully despite chronic illness. She could never find the kind of book she wanted when she was recovering from a bout of whatever so she wrote it. Get your copy.

Check out her newest book, Sick & Tired, on Amazon, to be launched June 26^h, 2013! http://tinyurl.com/mj8utum and you can find her website here.

Book Trailer: www.kimberlyrae.com

Blessings, Carol                                                                                                                                  Best selling author of The Mystery of Spiritual Sensitivity and Highly Sensitive www.fromgodsheart.com                                                                                              www.joystarters.com